The two hundred and more paintings in this album were chosen from about ten thousand folk paintings done in recent years in various parts of China. They are considered as the best. This album will give the art collector, connoisseur and general reader an opportunity to peruse the work of peasants, herdsmen, fishermen and housewives, familiar as they may be with the orthodox Chinese tradition, oils and graphic art; to take them into the mountains and the wilderness, to a world with a totally different charm and attraction from that of the secluded Palace of Art.

In recent years folk painting has come very much into the foreground of cultural activities in China. One spring at the end of last century fifty-one counties notable for their output in the field were designated "Homes of Painting" by China Social Culture Bureau of the Ministry of Culture. This album includes paintings from sixty-six counties a towns, mostly those designated "Homes of Painting." The work offers a general picture of recent folk painting in China.